We received a heck of a good question from a reader this week, and we bet a lot of you filthy fuckaducks are wondering the same thing! “A.D.” wrote,
I am realizing that we have HOLY SHIT ONE MONTH and I have a limited budget and I have thrown plenty of dollars at Kamala and Tim. I was just thinking that I would love Wonkette’s take on which races to throw my remaining bucks at.
Like I would love to see Colin Allred drag Ted Cruz around by his hair, but if there’s a more likely flip I want to know. Same with the crazebats in Congress.
I know I am not the boss of you. I just realized how powerfully I want that.
See? That is in fact a very good question! And because we are also not the boss of you readers — though we should be, to shape you up — we won’t tell you what to do either, but we do have a few ideas you might find helpful, assuming that you are not a weird tech billionaire who owns their own US senator and is looking for another so you can have a matched set.
But how to decide? With control of the House and Senate up for grabs (and statistically, there are just plain more Democrats defending Senate seats than Republicans), where will your money do the most good? And what about all the other races?
For starters, we do want to remind you to send some monetary love to the campaign of Wonkette pal Dr. Sarah Taber, who’s running to become North Carolina’s Agriculture Commissioner. Sarah is a crop scientist who’s been working in agriculture for 26 years. And as we said in our March profile, she has some genuinely exciting ideas for revitalizing North Carolina agriculture and helping farmers grow more profitable crops like fruit and vegetables for the East Coast market, instead of the lower-profit standbys they’ve grown accustomed to like corn, soy, and tobacco. She’s up against a Republican incumbent whose ideas about agriculture are as stale as old cigarettes, pfui! Check out our profile and send her a donation if you can!
As for the national races, if you want to help the incumbent Democrat who’s most in danger of losing their seat to an unworthy challenger, go support Montana’s Jon Tester, who’s up against glib liar Tim Sheehy, who has never held office and is avoiding public appearances lest a gaffe upset the lead he has simply because there’s an R after his name. Tester has been hammering on Sheehy for being from out of state and something of a Stepford candidate. Tester’s deep Montana roots, no-bullshit frankness, and reputation for common sense legislating have helped him win three terms, but the influx of new residents who are more rigidly partisan might mean Montana has gone too far right for Tester. Then again, Tester might benefit from resentment of Sheehy as a rich outsider, part of the crowd that has taken over the state. We honestly can’t say, but I’m still supporting Tester because Sheehy is awful. Another consideration: Montana’s media market isn’t as pricey as those in big states, so a dollar to Tester will go a little farther. [Jon Tester campaign site]
If Tester can’t hang on, Dems would need to pick up one seat in another state to hold the Senate if Harris is elected. The two most vulnerable Republican senators are Florida’s Rick Scott, who’s being challenged by Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, and Texas’s Ted Cruz, who’s in a tight race with Colin Allred. The thing is, even though they’re probably the most disliked senators in America, even among their colleagues, they both have lots of money and party support. If you’re considering momentum, the Cook Political Report still has Florida listed as “Likely Republican,” but recently shifted Texas to the less-certain “Lean Republican.” Both Democratic challengers remain long shots, but Mucarsel-Powell may have the tougher race. [Debbie Mucarsel-Powell campaign / Colin Allred campaign]
Other Senate Dems who could use a hand to keep their seats blue, either as incumbents or candidates to succeed a retiring Democrat. Some of these races are getting tighter in the polls as “independents” decide that actually they were Republicans to start with. But honestly, we’d go even further down-ballot, as these guys seem to have enough money for lots and lots and lots of ads.
We’ve been looking at Oath, a nifty independently run platform that helps Democrats donate where their money will have the most bang for the buck. Politico explained the idea in an interview with co-founder Brian Derrick that made me say, “Well hell, that’s smart.”
The premise is simple: Help donors optimize their giving by calculating the impact additional money would have on different races. The firm bases that on a range of factors, including the competitiveness of a given election and how much cash a campaign already has. Each campaign or committee on the platform receives a score between 1 and 10, with a higher score indicating the greater impact of donations.
Oath isn’t officially affiliated with the party; it’s supported by contributions from people using the site. Hey, we like that funding model!
The fun thing about Oath is that it covers both state and national races, and gives users all sorts of options for giving based on the issues users are interested in, with a focus on getting money to the campaigns where it’ll do the most good. You want to hold the Senate? There’s a button for that. Flip the US House? That too.
Want to donate to state races that are most likely to flip control of state legislatures to Democrats? Or maybe you want to help candidates who are pledged to support reproductive freedom, or LGBTQ equality, or the fight against climate change.
You can also decide to deselect candidates if you wanna, though I don’t know why you would. And you can search for particular candidates or states, too.
There’s also a “Max Impact” option that’s updated weekly to get donations to the campaigns where a little money will go a long way, in races you may not have heard of but which may flip a vital seat in a state lege or for other offices, like the Ohio Supreme Court or Pennsylvania Attorney General.
It’s pretty neat, with much of the funding going to down-ballot races where a little money will go a very long way to get Democrats elected. Take a few minutes to check it out!
Have a favorite candidate or donation platform you want to mention? It’s a real pity that Wonkette does not allow comments, but you could try all the same.
Yr Wonkette is funded entirely by reader donations. If you can, please become a paid subscriber, or if you want to make a one-time donation, well golly we have a button for that too!
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